Good Morning.
Today we head to the northeast for traditional New England food. We will also have a brief tutorial in how the natives
pronounce their words. Anything with an er, ar, or, ir, or ur is pronounced as ah. Thus letter is lettah, collar is collah, and rigor is riggah. A scarf is a scahf and forty is fawty. Here is heeyah, there is theyah, and your is yuh. There also are colorful idioms that I will detail as we go along and I will italicize the words that should be pronounced as above. For example, an apple shaker is a windy autumn storm. A Bay Stater is a resident of Massachusetts. Leaf Peepers are tourists who roam around NE looking at the fall foliage. A leg stretcher is a drink and dates to a time when a stagecoach stopped at a tavern.
Not everyone speaks this way, but I love it.
We begin with a Vermont Cheddar Cheese Soup. This recipe is straight out of the Simon Pearce restaurant in Quechee.
They make glassware and you can watch them blowing glass while you have your lunch or dinner.
10 tbsp. butter
1 small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 quarts chicken broth
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. fresh thyme, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup peeled and grated carrots
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups Half and Half
Melt butter in a heavy soup pot. Add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the flour to butter and onion mixture and stir. Turn the heat down to low. Stir occasionally and cook for 12 minutes. Add the chicken broth in batches,
stirring with a whisk after each addition until smooth. Add the thyme and a shake of salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 8 or 9 minutes until nice and smooth and watch carefully. Stir in grated cheese. In a separate pan, bring enough water to a boil to cover the celery and carrots. Cook until tender, a minute or two. Drain the vegetables and add to the soup pot. Stir in the heavy cream and Half and Half. Do not overheat or the soup will curdle. Serves four.
An out-of-stater is anyone who doesn't reside in New England. Old seed folks are ancestors. A parkie is a summer employee who works for the parks and rec department. Prayer handles are your knees. A slippertoe is a lazy person.
Moving along we have Yankee Pot Roast.
1/4 cup olive oil
3 medium white onions, sliced
1 4 pound top or bottom round beef roast
Flour
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cups hearty red wine
1 tbsp. thyme
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
Kosher salt to taste
2 tbsp. unsalted, room temp butter
2 tbsp. flour
In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and saute the onions until golden. Dredge the roast in flour and add to the pot. Brown on all sides. Add the broth, wine, thyme, pepper, and just a dash of salt. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer for 3 1/2 hours. Turn the roast occasionally. When fork tender, remove the meat, set aside, and keep warm. In a cup, mix the butter and flour together, then add to the broth and whisk until you have a gravy. Slice the meat and arrange on a platter. Cover with some of the gravy and pass the rest in a gravy boat.
Regattas in New England are a big deal in the summer. They consist of a series of races with sailing craft. These events are formally structured with lots of rules, but regattas are also social occasions with appropriate summer dress and the enthusiastic consumption of pleasant beverages. The Kennedy family has its own regatta because there are so many of them. Their event is called the Fagawi, a reference to sailing between Hyannisport and Nantucket and asking themselves a question about where they might or might not be.
We suggest Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Carrots as an accompaniment to the roast.
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into one inch cubes
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into quarter inch coins
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. thyme
Maple syrup
Place the sweet potatoes and carrots in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in a 375 degree oven for half an hour. Remove, sprinkle with thyme and drizzle with maple syrup. Return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Place in a serving dish and toss. Serves 4.
Serve the entree with the bread, rolls, or muffins of choice.
Something about New England: The Shakers were so named because they trembled when they prayed. They lived very simple lives and made beautiful furniture with very simple lines. They lived in communities of 30 to 100 people and were convinced that they could convert the world to their way of life by evangelizing, but they never went much further than down the road a piece. They also had a strict code about celibacy, even for people who were legally married. They trembleth not any longer.
For dessert we have Cranberry Slump.
2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter, cooled
1 cup granulated sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Mix the cranberries, nuts, and sugar in a bowl. Pour into an ungreased 9 inch springform pan. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and almond extract in another bowl. Pour this over the cranberry mixture. Bake at 375 degrees for 38 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
And lest you think that New Englanders are still a bunch of old colonists, kindly consider that there are 58 institutions of
higher learning in the greater Boston area and that makes for a lot of parties, none of them involving tea. I leave you with
a limerick:
The sweet Boston thing hatched a plot
To impress him by doing a shot
At Cheers people claim
Everyone knows your name
That she thought might be Joe but was not.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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